WASHINGTON (Sept. 9, 2014) -- The Humane Society Legislative Fund, the nation’s leading political advocacy organization for animal welfare, announces its endorsement of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine., for reelection to the U.S. Senate. Citing her support of animal protection legislation, the HSLF urges Maine voters to support Sen. Collins in November’s general election.
“Senator Collins has been a strong supporter of legislation to protect animals from cruelty and abuse, and she’s respected on both sides of the aisle,” said Sara Amundson, executive director of the HSLF. “Maine is the first state to adopt an anti-cruelty statute, and she’s built on this strong tradition by working at the federal level to drive the enactment of policies to combat animal fighting and horse slaughter and to help get chimpanzees out of costly and ineffective invasive experiments.”
The HSLF publishes an annual Humane Scorecard of Congress to give voters a snapshot of every federal legislator's record on animal protection issues; nine times Sen. Collins achieved a perfect score of 100 for votes in favor of animal welfare measures before the U.S. Senate.
Among her other efforts, in the 113th Congress Senator Collins:
- Co-sponsored the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act (S.1406), to strengthen the federal law against the “soring” of show horses—using caustic chemicals and other painful substances to injure the horses’ hooves and legs to induce a high-stepping gait;
- Was an original co-sponsor of the Egg Products Inspection Act Amendments (S.820), to ban barren battery cages in the egg industry and improve the treatment of hundreds of millions of laying hens;
- Was an original co-sponsor of the CHIMP Act Amendments of 2013 (S. 1561), to give the National Institutes of Health the much-needed flexibility within its budget to retire government-owned chimpanzees from laboratories to less-costly sanctuaries, providing better care to chimps and saving tax dollars;
- Co-sponsored the Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act (S.666), which was included in the 2014 Farm Bill, making it a federal crime to attend or bring a child to a dogfight or cockfight;
- Co-sponsored the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act (S.541), to prohibit the slaughter and export of horses for human consumption overseas;
- Co-sponsored the Captive Primate Safety Act (S. 1463), to prohibit the interstate commerce in chimpanzees and other primates in the exotic pet trade, which poses a danger to animal welfare and to public health and safety;
- Co-sponsored the Puppy Uniform Protection and Safety (PUPS) Act (S. 395), to protect dogs and crack down on abusive puppy mills in the United States by regulating online puppy sellers under the federal Animal Welfare Act;
- Co-signed a group letter opposing the dangerous and overreaching “King amendment,” which threatened to nullify hundreds of state and local laws on food safety, animal welfare and agriculture, and was nixed from the 2014 Farm Bill;
- Supported efforts to provide adequate funding for the enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, Horse Protection Act, Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and federal animal fighting law, as well as for programs to address the needs of animals in disasters and to ease a shortage of veterinarians in rural and inner-city areas and at the U.S. Department of Agriculture through student loan forgiveness.
Media Contact: Martin Montorfano, (202) 676-2347, mmontorfano@hslf.org
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HSLF is a nonpartisan organization that evaluates candidates based only on a single criterion: where they stand on animal welfare. HSLF does not judge candidates based on party affiliation or any other issue.
The Humane Society Legislative Fund is a social welfare organization incorporated under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code and formed in 2004 as a separate lobbying affiliate of The Humane Society of the United States. The HSLF works to pass animal protection laws at the state and federal level, to educate the public about animal protection issues, and to support humane candidates for office. Visit us on all our channels: on the web at hslf.org, on our blog at animalsandpolitics.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/humanelegislation and on Twitter at twitter.com/HSLegFund.
Paid for by Humane Society Legislative Fund and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. HSLF, 1255 23rd Street, NW, Suite 455, Washington, DC 20037.
